


Blossoms From the Dark

by still_lycoris



Category: X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) - Fandom
Genre: Angst, Happy Ending, M/M, Post-Canon, Relationship Issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-31
Updated: 2016-12-31
Packaged: 2018-09-13 16:07:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 629
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9131704
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/still_lycoris/pseuds/still_lycoris
Summary: Charles is aware that Hank isn't sure about their relationship now that he's healthy. But he hopes time can fix that.





	

“Do you love me?”

Charles wasn’t expecting the question. He blinked, looking up from the book he was reading, half-expecting it to be a joke.

Hank wasn’t looking at him. He was pretending to be very busy watering a plant, but his hands were shaking. He was also thinking very, very hard about a set of scientific calculations, which told Charles that Hank didn’t want him to know what he was really thinking. He resisted the urge to probe. These days, if Charles wasn’t supposed to know it, he wouldn’t try to know it. He understood the value of privacy, even when it was frustrating to him.

“Yes, I love you,” he said quietly. “Do you really not know that by now?”

Hank didn’t answer. His mental calculations became louder. Charles tried not to frown. He knew that Hank was uncertain about their relationship sometimes, knew that Hank was insecure but for Hank to suspect that Charles didn’t _love_ him ... that was something else, something that worried Charles. Their relationship was still fragile, bent under the weight of how it had formed. It had hardly been a healthy way to find a partner, to end up so desperately co-dependent and yet Charles felt they had found something through that, something good.

He moved his chair to Hank’s side and reached up to touch Hank’s hand.

“I love you, Hank. I love you. I’ll say it as often as you want me to. I’ll mean it too. You’re so special to me. There’s nobody else like you.”

Hank still wasn’t looking at him. Charles didn’t say anything else for a while. He just sat there, holding Hank’s hand, stroking his fingers, waiting for Hank to either accept his words or to speak again.

After a little while, Hank knelt down and leaned against him, his head pressed awkwardly to Charles’s shoulder. Charles hugged him close.

“Will you tell me what’s wrong, Hank?”

“Nothing,” Hank mumbled, but almost immediately. “Will you stop loving me when there are other people here?”

“ _Hank!_ ” Charles couldn’t believe his ears. “Do you think me so fickle?!”

Perhaps he deserved it though. Their relationship had been so ... complicated. He might not have meant to take advantage of someone who was insecure but in the end, some of the results of that were coming into play.

“You ... you’ll have so many other people to talk to, to interact with,” Hank was saying, his voice shaking just a little. “The parents of the students, the teachers ... you might ... remember that there’s other people who are ... who are ... ”

“Hank, look at me properly.”

Hank lifted his head, finally looking Charles in the eye. Charles gently cupped his face with his hand, stroking the skin of his cheek.

“I’m not with you because you’re the only option. I’m not with you because I’m waiting for somebody better. I know it started out of ... complicated things but I am with you now because I _like_ you. Please try to believe that, Hank.”

Hank lowered his eyes and Charles sighed softly. You couldn’t _make_ somebody believe something – well, all right, he could but he wasn’t going to. He would just have to wait for Hank to accept it – and in the end, he was confident that Hank would. 

He meant what he said. What they had might have started from somewhere dark but Charles had no doubt that the end result was something wonderful.

He kissed Hank’s lips firmly, wrapped his arms around Hank’s neck. He felt Hank kiss him back, felt the mass of blocking calculations slow, an invitation for Charles to gently reach into that mind and remind Hank exactly how he felt with a flood of emotion that could not be faked.

Some things were better shown than told.

**Author's Note:**

> Written for 12dayschristmas


End file.
